Saturday, July 2, 2016

The Mirror of Alchemy: Now Available!

The Mirror of Alchemy is one of those many alchemical works misattributed to an author who had nothing to do with the crafting of the work. Dating to no earlier than the 16th century, the Mirror is ascribed to Roger Bacon, who lived and died several centuries earlier.

This does nothing to denigrate the value of the work, however- here we have the most explicit and literal description of the basic tenets of alchemy; that the laboratory setup used to make elixir is as literal a representation of nature as possible- a graduated vessel resembling a triangular mountain, made of fired clay, the presence of argent vive and sulfur (oddly with little mention of salt) and other methods to create a universal medicine- the tincture of the philosophers, the dragon- the peacock-colored, shining substances of alchemical lore.